Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae from Pharmaceutical Wastewaters in South-Western Nigeria.

Emergence and spread of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) present a major threat to public health. In this study, we characterized β-lactam-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates from six wastewater samples obtained from two pharmaceutical industries located in Lagos and Ogun States, Nigeria. Bacteria were isolated by using MacConkey agar; species identification and antibacterial susceptibility testing were performed by Vitek 2. Etest was used for ESBL phenotype confirmation. The presence of β-lactamase genes was investigated by PCR and sequencing. Bacterial strain typing was done by XbaI-macrorestriction and subsequent pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) as well as multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Thirty-five bacterial species were isolated from the six samples; among them, we identified seven K. pneumoniae isolates with resistance to β-lactams and co-resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and folate pathway inhibitors. The ESBL phenotype was confirmed in six K. pneumoniae isolates that harbored ESBL genes bla (n = 5), bla (n = 1), and bla (n = 1). PFGE and MLST analysis revealed five clones belonging to four sequence types (ST11, ST15, ST37, ST101), and clone K. pneumoniae-ST101 was present in the wastewater samples from two different pharmaceutical industries. Additionally performed conjugation assays confirmed the location of β-lactamase genes on conjugative plasmids. This is the first confirmation of K. pneumoniae isolates producing CTX-M-15-ESBL from pharmaceutical wastewaters in Nigeria. The co-resistance observed might be a reflection of the different drugs produced by these industries. Continuous surveillance of the environmental reservoirs of multidrug-resistant bacteria is necessary to prevent their further spread.